Woke up this morning vaguely thinking that the whole Manny Ramirez thing was merely a dream. Was sad until I saw this story in the Dallas Morning News which reminded me that, nope, it’s not a dream:

Manny Ramirez singled in three at-bats and walked once in his return to organized baseball with Triple-A Round Rock of the Rangers’ organization on Sunday night. Ramirez, a 12-time American League All-Star, singled in his first at-bat against hard-throwing right-hander Yordano Ventura with Omaha, of the Kansas City organization. Ramirez grounded into a fielder’s choice and struck out in four pitches in his next two at-bats.

There’s no timetable for Ramirez. And no risk for the Rangers. If he rakes like mad, fine, he can force his way onto the big league roster. If he’s no good or acts out or anything they can release him. Personally I want to see him play because, you know, Manny. But it seems like such a no-brainer to at least see what he has left.

Also: click through to the DMN article to see what Manny with (sorta) short hair an graying temples looks like.

They were expected to activate Harper yesterday but they didn’t because Harper was suffering from an illness. He’s better today so he should be in the lineup against the Phillies.

Harper has been out since August when he slipped on a wet first base bag and was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his left knee. That interrupted an MVP-caliber season in which he was hitting .326/.419/.614 with 29 home runs, 87 RBI, and 92 runs scored in 472 plate appearances. While the postseason awards are out of his reach, the Nats will be content to get him back up to speed in time for what looks to be a first round playoff matchup against the Chicago Cubs.

Now, a little over a week before the Indians begin the defense of their American League pennant, Bauer is embroiled in further drone drama. He tweeted this afternoon that his drone “IronMan” has been stolen. He has implored the public for Iron Man’s safe return so that he need not risk his pinky finger with yet another October drone injury:

Hey. Hey Clague Park drone thief. Please return IronMan to me in a timely manner or you will force me to build a new companion!😤#SaveMyPinky